Blog Archives

The sympathetic little girl that tried to humanize the zombies –by giving them names– might be the one feeding the zombies. Why? Well follow me here… If they have names, then they mightaswell be people, and if they’re people –in her mind– then people need to be fed. I’m talking about the girl that said girl’s sister said was “messed up”, rather than weak. She quickly corrected Carol, after Carol had asserted that the older sibling was weak. That “messed up” girl watched Carol kill her father before she could even reconcile his state, that “messed up” girl also took a large blade from Carol toward the end of the episode, lulling Carol into this belief that the “messed up” little girl had come to her senses and now has an understanding, but she hasn’t, and I do believe that we’re going to experience the irony of a woman (Carol) dying at the hands of a legacy she tried to leave by empowering those little rascals with Chris Hemsworth Huntsman abilities. Her effort to fortify and strengthen her people might result i

n her death. She should’ve taken heed to the little girl’s warning when she stated that her sister was “messed up”, rather than weak. In a show where dialogue is scarce, everything spoken and unspoken carries the weight of intent. And their intention behind Carol’s current character-arc within the story is quite clear. Carol is leaving a legacy, and she will probably get murdered by the one who doesn’t not understand the meaning of it. So, yes, Carol has come full circle as a character… and when a circle is complete… well. I’m @TravantiQuinn. Feel free to share your thoughts or predictions.

The last episode of Game of Thrones was spectacular, in a way… It was truly an episode that took full advantage of the fact that NONE-OF-THAT sort of violence took place in at least a few episodes preceding it. They lulled us to sleep, and then, GOTCHA BITCH!

Rob, his pregnant wife, unborn baby Ned incarnate ll, Mama Stark (Princess Fiona, if it were Shrek 7), and Rob’s entire army of Small Soldiers fell to an incredibly gratuitous stabbing medley executed by the Quasi-Commando Elite… but not before Lord Ugly Daughters talked a wealth of shit about Rob’s girl as she dawned a cloak that said “I’m not pregnant, obviously, because I’m covering an obvious pregnancy.”

Did I mention that Ned Stark is SO dead, that an unborn babyNedStark was killed before he could even enter the Kingdom!?! I wouldn’t be surprised if Ned got killed one more good time at the pearly gates. He is not to exist in this realm in any way, shape, or form apparently. NED AND NED DEAD.

–Back to the macabre massacre–

Let me say, nooobody attempted to block or parry a single blade, they received every one of them to the gut or gullet. A lot of story died with that episode. Why? Well, because a new majority of characters strong enough to carry the series are children, but those children aren’t realistically strong enough to survive Westeros in its current state. Its like a bizarro Peter Pan. The jury’s out on Bran Stark though, he stumbled onto some Jean-Grey mind-control wizardry when he shut that human pokémon Hodor the fuck up…

The story centered around one family, the Stark family, & now the story is decentralized because the entire Stark family is DEAD… with the exception of the muppet babies… and Jon Snow… who is too busy performing at the Winter X Games with Ygritte, Sheamus of the WWE, and Captain Jack Sparrow the Bird Whisperer. With Rob gone, so is the plot payoff of his ascension to power and exacting his revenge on Theon Greyjoy… et al. And before I forget, yes… I assume Theon was completely killed by Evil John Mayer? If not, he should be, because we no longer sympathize with his character & Rob’s death was his. They took a beautiful gamble, you know, eradicating everyone that you care about to leave everyone that you don’t particularly care about… I’m excited to see how it turns out in 7 years when 59lb Aria Stark and Bran “Professor Charles Xavier” Stark are strong and experienced enough to become a formidable force in Westeros. No, I haven’t read the books you weirdos. Let this story be its own story, BASED on a set of other stories written by the guy who wrote this story. Its an adaptation, not a transcription, so the people that like when books to be transcribed from book to screen verbatim may as well watch their books. Let the creators create.

Hopefully they didn’t cut the legs out from under this wonderful series, I’m looking forward to the continued surprises. Refreshing television. I’m @TravantiQuinn.

An angry sneaky Pete performed a slalom down the steps, hilarity. Joan got upset at Don regarding the fact that he fired Jaguar, after she used her body for something much larger than the nothing that she thought it was. Peggy is living in a private hell because, now that the mid-level firms have merged to form super-creative, Peggy must deal with the fact that she was a true dirtbag to the Downy Bear Stan Rizzo… and she can not reconcile the Draper eclipse as she had really hoped that she could prove to herself that she could attain the highest degree of professional success on her own. No disrespect to Don, I’m sure. How about Don and Ted Cavanaugh’s commonground? They simultaneously reached a growth plateau when it came to their mid-sized firms, Don saw an opportunity as he instinctively does, and he seizes it. Luckily, Roger Sterling was a part of this process, had he not been, then the agency would’ve developed a deep distaste for Don’s singularity of decision-making. Joan had made it clear that it should be a team effort, the irony being that the IPO meetings were carried out by the majority of the partners behind Don Draper’s back.

The most interesting part of the drama comes about when:

1. The partners, MINUS Don, carry out these IPO meetings to expand the firm many-fold.

2. Don, wanting to do business with decent people, fired Jaguar because he never got over what that grimey dirtbag Herb had Joan do. Remember? “Not like this…” He said it twice in that one episode! Don got the last laugh.

3. When Don fired Jaguar, he extinguished the company’s Public IPO opportunity simply because he was unaware of the fact that this was taking place. Therein lies the cognitive dissonance. Kudos to the partners for taking initiative, shame on them from keeping their lord and savior Draper Christ out of the loop as though he isn’t their greatest advocate. The aforementioned leads me to my next point.

Pete Campbell had made mention, after one of the IPO meetings, that Donald Draper doesn’t care about money, that is an important allusion that will further explain why Draper does what he does. When his firm evolves, he evolves. He and his career are on the same trajectory. His business and his identity are ONE, he is his work, and that is why he will do business the way that he sees fit because unlike everyone else, his work is his life… And he will not compromise or sell his existence short. It is primary to all things…

4. Don and Ted Cavanaugh run into each other outside of a meeting with Chevy, that Roger Sterling facilitated –Yes, astounding how Roger found a way to turn his pleasure into business— to Ted’s dismay. Ted delivers a manifesto blueprinting the dual fate of the two stalemated firms, and begins to sink in… over drinks, of course… and Draper suddenly realizes what must happen and that it must happen NOW. Don pulled the trigger, urged that the two firms merge, performed an INCEPTION on the Chevy minds, and made them believe that the merger was Chevy’s idea so that the merger itself was possible. This deal would send their new firm to unparalleled new heights. Even if there was a problem at the office post Chevy acquisition, they’d pale in comparison to the problems pre-Chevy acquisition.

SO HERE’S the kicker, again… Bert, Pete, and Joan had worked tirelessly to get an IPO and take the company public… they succeeded in doing so, until Donald Draper followed his heart and fired that bag of wheat germ, Herb and his Jaguar. THAT nullified the IPO that Draper was completely unaware of, forcing him into emergency salvage mode –where he is at his greatest– and acquired Chevy AND another firm… When Donald Draper panics, he evolves like a Pokemon and so does the firm.

Don achieved the same goal of expanding the firm exponentially, but ironically, without the team that tried to expand the firm exponentially without Don. Ding! Ding! Don wins! And they will be temporarily sour about it, but luckily Roger Sterling –who was in cahoots, and empowered by the notion that he’s still got it– can and will defend Don and his efforts to take this company to another echelon and that the sour patch underlings will always profit from Don’s pain. Roger can talk his way out of anything. Again, Don doesn’t care about the money, his strife comes from the fact that the company is his life’s blood and will go through any measure necessary to keep it alive.

Only a Reality TV Star can acquire style points for getting arrested or making headlines, they redeem their drama for cash prizes. You? You’d get thrown chin-first into a prison. No bail for you, unless S.S Grandma or another well-heeled loved one can get you out. And once you get out, you’ll be pushing a caravan of shopping carts across the blazing parking lot of a grocery store.

As for the Reality Star or Public Figure? They usually benefit from their public strife, because they have a paying audience who subscribes to their manufactured struggle. Like I said, or didn’t say, but am saying, controversy fuels the public figure’s career. You need 87′ Octane and Protein, they need to sock a photographer in the Canon Lens. What you’d get arrested for, or cast away as a social pariah for, they are rewarded for.

Although it is a fascinating thing, it isn’t a new thing. People have subscribed to the public lives of others for 1000s of years. There isn’t a motive force in human history that can do for you, what a spectacle can do for you. Ask P.T. Barnum. Yes, the circus dude. As quickly as you can rise, you can fall, but you can rise again, your audience loves to watch you rise, fall, and then redeem yourself. Its fucking weird, but hey, they’re your people not mine.

You see, the average man or woman lead a rather jaded and monotonous existence. When they get home from their triangle of perpetual boredom, they numb themselves via the vicarious consumption of things they will likely never experience. Never say never, I know, but if you’re sitting on a couch watching Storage Wars when you could be honing your craft, then probably never. And that’s perfectly fine, we need you too Mr. and Mrs. Escapist.

Reality TV Stars and other public figures alike, are compensated for rendering a service to the subscriber, at the expense of their privacy, and maybe their own sense of reality. It takes an effort to maintain perspective, so decide what you will and won’t allow to validate your existence.